1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for creating a spectrum agile wireless multi-hopping network, such as a wireless ad-hoc peer-to-peer multi-hopping network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for creating a spectrum agile multi-hopping network that can respond to conditions affecting spectrum, such as FCC rulings or business related agreements on spectrum licensing related to a location or other measurable parameters of the network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication networks, such as mobile wireless telephone networks, have become increasingly prevalent over the past decade. These wireless communications networks are commonly referred to as “cellular networks”, because the network infrastructure is arranged to divide the service area into a plurality of regions called “cells”. A terrestrial cellular network includes a plurality of interconnected base stations, or base nodes, that are distributed geographically at designated locations throughout the service area. Each base node includes one or more transceivers that are capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, such as radio frequency (RF) communications signals, to and from mobile user nodes, such as wireless telephones, located within the coverage area. The communications signals include, for example, voice data that has been modulated according to a desired modulation technique and transmitted as data packets. As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, network nodes transmit and receive data packet communications in a multiplexed format, such as time-division multiple access (TDMA) format, code-division multiple access (CDMA) format, or frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) format, which enables a single transceiver at a first node to communicate simultaneously with several other nodes in its coverage area.
In recent years, a type of mobile communications network known as an “ad-hoc” network has been developed. In this type of network, each mobile node is capable of operating as a base station or router for the other mobile nodes, thus eliminating the need for a fixed infrastructure of base stations.
More sophisticated ad-hoc networks are also being developed which, in addition to enabling mobile nodes to communicate with each other as in a conventional ad-hoc network, further enable the mobile nodes to access a fixed network and thus communicate with other mobile nodes, such as those on the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and on other networks such as the Internet. Details of these advanced types of ad-hoc networks are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,650 entitled “Ad Hoc Peer-to-Peer Mobile Radio Access System Interfaced to the PSTN and Cellular Networks”, granted on Jul. 4, 2006, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,165 entitled “Time Division Protocol for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-Peer Radio Network Having Coordinating Channel Access to Shared Parallel Data Channels with Separate Reservation Channel”, granted on Oct. 19, 2004, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,839 entitled “Prioritized-Routing for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-Peer, Mobile Radio Access System”, granted on Mar. 29, 2005, the entire content of each being incorporated herein by reference.
As can be appreciated from the nature of wireless mobile communication networks such as those discussed above, it is desirable for the radios or nodes of the network to be spectrum agile or, in other words, be capable of operating at different radio frequency spectrums. Spectrum agility is particularly important when spectrum licensing is tied to location coordinates. For example, some frequency spectrum may be available in one town while not available for use in other. Additionally, a certain frequency spectrum may be available only during certain times of day or may be not available due to licensing agreements. This situation can happen if licensed spectrum is dedicated for certain use, for example, for emergency use but can be licensed during non emergency times for commercial use.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method that enables a wireless communication network to be spectrum agile.